Moving Windows onto new PC's

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sqishy

530 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 193

#2387726 9-Jan-2020 07:39

kiwis:

I thought that if you changed motherboards you just needed to contact MS? Assume this is what the earlier post about phoning up was about?

I used this disk to install Windows on a laptop a year ago, no issues. So I assume the disk will work.

If your using an older W10 DVD disk then there will be several updates post that as it trys to update but will work.

Yes try your key and if no luck ring MS and they will help you activate it.

Jase2985

13732 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6206

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#2387818 9-Jan-2020 09:23

i would download the media creation tool as it will make things faster updates wise. that way you have the latest version of windows and dont need to go through incremental updates from an old DVD.

Jogre

182 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#2389518 10-Jan-2020 09:53

OEM licenses are bound to the hardware (mainly motherboard/CPU) so you are not licensing compliant by transferring this license or key between PCs regardless of whether it lets you as Freitasm has mentioned.

Unfortunately, there's well documented cases in these forums around Windows 10 activating whenever it wants to (pretty much due to M365 in my opinion). So don't assume that just because it works, you are doing the right thing if you ever have Microsoft check your licensing.

Jono Green

Microsoft New Zealand

SpartanVXL

1498 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 666

#2389604 10-Jan-2020 11:41

As an anecdotal example, when busy fighting with the activation troubleshooter to re-activate on different hardware, when logged in with the Microsoft account that had the license linked all the “please activate” watermark and notifications would disappear. Logging in to the local admin account would be okay for a day before the nagging started again, switching back to the online account stopped it again.

You could probably get away with never activating if you solely used your MS account with valid license attached.

1101

3141 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1143

#2398878 16-Jan-2020 11:41

This whole topic needs separating into ....

1) Can you do it : YES . You can reuse COA/install key on many pc's (untill flagged/blocked by MS )

2) is it ~legal~ : Nope (allmost allways).
Win OEM cant be used on other pc's. Win10 upgraded from OEM cant be loaded on other PC's
Win10 upgrade from Win7 does not give you a valid lic, that free upgrade ended many years back .

3) Activation does not mean you have a valid license : thats a quote from MS themselves

Varkk

643 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 477

#2399004 16-Jan-2020 13:25

Don't forget if you activate this way there is always a danger that at some point in the future MS is able to identify licenses activated this way and deactivate them. This would probably happen in a couple of years long after you have forgotten all about this discussion. It happened in the past that MS put out an update which better identified pirated or improperly licensed copies of Windows and people who thought they had a valid license found themselves with the "This is not genuine" error.

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Jogre

182 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#2399063 16-Jan-2020 14:35

Varkk:

Don't forget if you activate this way there is always a danger that at some point in the future MS is able to identify licenses activated this way and deactivate them. This would probably happen in a couple of years long after you have forgotten all about this discussion. It happened in the past that MS put out an update which better identified pirated or improperly licensed copies of Windows and people who thought they had a valid license found themselves with the "This is not genuine" error.

Stupidly easy to identify. Did first activation of Win7/Win8 key on Windows 10 occur within free upgrade period yes/no? If no turn on watermark.

I think we have a target number of Windows 10 devices out in the market, once the dust settles on Win7 EOS or we hit that target, who knows what might happen and which IT companies have to do some explaining to customers.

Jono Green

Microsoft New Zealand

1101

3141 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1143

#2402366 20-Jan-2020 14:00

Jogre:

I think we have a target number of Windows 10 devices out in the market, once the dust settles on Win7 EOS or we hit that target, who knows what might happen and which IT companies have to do some explaining to customers.

More like : MS have some explaining to do
Why did they let all those PC's activate , when MS clearing stated in a very hard to find webpage that the Free upgrade period is over & they stated activation doesnt give
a valid licence.
And yet, MS still allow these 7 to 10 activations .

Case in point. Laptop with a 100% dead HD. Originally had Win8(or 8.1) . Did it have a valid Win10 upgrade in the free period ? , who the hell knows.
So load Win10 on it, dont enter any keys , dont try & activate.
Bam , Win10 auto activated (using the Win8 key in the bios) . So , MS's own product did that, and yet it may not be valid.

MS letting dodgy IT companies do this en masse , while the honest IT companies wont . So Clients of honest IT companies penalised by having to pay for Win10.
MS being very quiet about this whole upgrade topic, as if no one there knows whats happening .

Jogre

182 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#2402401 20-Jan-2020 14:27

1101:

Jogre:

I think we have a target number of Windows 10 devices out in the market, once the dust settles on Win7 EOS or we hit that target, who knows what might happen and which IT companies have to do some explaining to customers.

More like : MS have some explaining to do
Why did they let all those PC's activate , when MS clearing stated in a very hard to find webpage that the Free upgrade period is over & they stated activation doesnt give
a valid licence.
And yet, MS still allow these 7 to 10 activations .

Case in point. Laptop with a 100% dead HD. Originally had Win8(or 8.1) . Did it have a valid Win10 upgrade in the free period ? , who the hell knows.
So load Win10 on it, dont enter any keys , dont try & activate.
Bam , Win10 auto activated (using the Win8 key in the bios) . So , MS's own product did that, and yet it may not be valid.

MS letting dodgy IT companies do this en masse , while the honest IT companies wont . So Clients of honest IT companies penalised by having to pay for Win10.
MS being very quiet about this whole upgrade topic, as if no one there knows whats happening .

Most PCs sold in the last 5 years have OEM licenses with Downgrade rights. I.e. it comes out of the box with Windows 8/8.1 but has a Windows 10 license or IT has downgraded due to app compatibility. The Media Creation Tool page is partly still there for organisations who have now resolved app compatibility issues and need to upgrade to 10 with a valid license.

Jono Green

Microsoft New Zealand

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